Man in custody after deadly Riverdale shooting, police chase

RIVERDALE, Ill. (WLS) -- A man is in custody after a shooting in south suburban Riverdale that left one man dead and a woman wounded. That shooting sparked a high-speed police chase that ended on Chicago's Far South Side.

Kevin Denson, 35, died after suffering multiple gunshot wounds inside a home near West 138th Street and South Stewart Avenue around 4:30 p.m. Tuesday. A woman was shot in the shoulder.

Neighbor Derrick Spencer said he heard at least six gunshots and saw a man running out of the house carrying two small children.

"Riverdale police officers received information that a subject was putting children in a vehicle and fleeing the scene. Riverdale officers attempted to stop the vehicle," Riverdale Police Chief David DeMik said.

Officers chased the SUV to Chicago's West Pullman neighborhood. They stopped the vehicle near West 116th and South Laflin streets and ordered the driver out. They arrested him and found the two children, both boys, unharmed.

The woman injured in the shooting was taken to Ingalls Memorial Hospital. Police said her injuries are not life-threatening.

Spencer says Denson worked at a Chicago hotel and just moved into his home with his family in July. He said there were never any known problems until the incident occurred.

"It's sad, it's shocking. It hits close to home," said Derrick Spencer, a neighbor. "There are other children on the block that play so I couldn't get any sleep - it was a restless night. I think about Kevin and speaking to him on occasion; you see someone every now and then, you speak to them, have decent conversations, happy conversations to turn around the next day and he's dead."

Neighbor Linda Williams watched as the driver was taken into custody.

"They said, 'Stick your hands out on the driver's side,' so he stuck his hands out," Williams said. "And then they told him to walk backwards, he walked backwards, they put him on the ground, rushed in the car and got the kids out, that was it."

Authorities have not released the name of the man in custody, nor have they confirmed whether the man under arrest was the gunman; they did confirm that the incident was domestic-related.